


Time Has Come... For the Fall

by 80sGayTrashGoblin



Series: Goblin's DotU Verse [3]
Category: Voltron: Lion Force (1984)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Background Character Death, Episode Rewrite: s01e20 Pidge's Home Planet, Family Reunions, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Military Backstory, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Planet Destruction, Trauma, badass allura
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:14:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26591239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/80sGayTrashGoblin/pseuds/80sGayTrashGoblin
Summary: Honestly, Lance agreed with Keith. It’s been too quiet, and while Keith’s conclusion was born out of flawed logic and paranoia, Lance’s was born from his gut. And while logic usually failed them because the shit they go through is anti-logical, Lance’s gut is consistently right. So Lance is gonna go with his gut, thank you very much.“We have a distress signal coming in,” Keith shouted, taking everyone’s attention. “It’s- It’s from Earth!”Or in other words: An AU where Earth explodes instead of Balto.
Series: Goblin's DotU Verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166207
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Keith sat in the lounge, flipping nervously through his book while the others relaxed. Lance was laying on the couch, rambling on about some soap he was watching, while Pidge tinkered with who knows what. Hunk and Allura were listening to Lance, although Keith suspected that Hunk was starting to nod off. 

It was another quiet day, and that was the problem. The past few weeks have been quiet. Keith was waiting for the hammer to fall. 

“Keith? Buddy?” He lifted his head up from the mess of letters that were starting to crawl around on the pages. It was Lance who was speaking to him. “You good man?” 

Keith sighed, closing the book and putting it on his lap. “I’m fine. Just a little hard to relax, is all.” 

“It’s been so quiet though!” Hunk exclaimed, throwing an arm around Allura and Lance’s shoulders. 

… “It’s been too quiet.” 

Keith’s voice was low, and they almost missed it because of Hunk’s optimism. He was doing that thing again, where he opened and closed his book, letting the pages brush against his fingers. “Lotor usually attacked every week, every other week at the latest. It’s been a month.”

“Who knows, maybe Haggar is claiming her vacay days,” Hunk shrugged, and the others chuckled. Keith just bit the inside of his lip, remembering the collection of files inside of his desk. They always tried to snoop, figure out what’s in the locked drawer of his desk, asking the name of the file, what’s in it, what’s it about. He couldn’t tell them. 

G.G. Drule alliance.

“Well, I’m sure it will be alright, Keith.” Allura tried to reassure him. It didn’t work, but he appreciated it. 

Someone was about to say something, when the doors opened, revealing a Coran and a Nanny. 

“So this is where you hooligans are.” Nanny scoffed, then smacked Hunk’s arm. “Get your dirty hands off of her.” 

“Hey!” Hunk rubbed his arm. “I took a shower an hour ago.” 

Ignoring Hunk, Nanny strode over to Allura. “Allura. We need to have a discussion.” 

Allura sighed, probably having heard this discussion over and over again behind closed doors. “Of course. What is it?” 

“You’re going to be crowned Queen of Northern Arus soon, and you’re going to be Queen of Arus.” Nanny crowed, probably having this spiel memorized by now. “By Arusian law, you have to take up a husband when you are sworn into office as Queen of Arus.” 

Allura simply sighed as many voices rose in protest. “How are you so sure that she’s gonna be Queen of Arus?” Pidge asked. “Isn’t that an elected position?” 

“Well, yes,” Nanny stammered a bit, then got herself together. “But they’re almost definitely going to elect her, seeing as she worked so hard to rebuild the planet. And she must have a husband by then. It is her duty to provide an heir for the throne.” 

“So what, she’s just gonna be some trophy sitting on a throne?” Lance asked, eyebrow raised in astonishment. “I mean, this is Allura we’re talking about.” 

Allura sighed. “Look, Nanny, I’m not looking for suitors right now. I don’t have time: my priority has to be getting my citizens the help they need.” 

Coran scoffed. “You’ve forgotten your duty to Arus. You need to produce an heir in case you’re too injured to continue your duties.” 

“You’ve been hanging out with this rabble too much!” Nanny said, pointedly glaring at the men in the room. “Their Earth ideals have gotten into your head.” 

Pidge scoffed this time. “Excuse me! I think our Earth ideals happen to be much better than Arus’s!” 

Lance covered Pidge’s mouth. Hunk rolled his eyes, then asked, “What would your ideals be then?” 

Nanny sighed, closing her eyes with a smile on her face. “Now, I’d just love for Allura to become elected as Queen of Arus, and then marry a very handsome and wealthy prince. We’d have the wedding right in the castle gardens, and Allura would be dressed in all white, and-” 

“Woah woah woah.” Lance interrupted her, ignoring the scandalized look on Nanny’s face. “Where are we in this?” 

“Why, you’ll be her royal guard, of course! And after the wedding, you four can go back to your little alliance and the lions could go to someone proper.” 

The silence was so thick, you could hear a pin drop. Then, a whole bunch of voices cropped up at once. 

“We’re not fucking leaving-!” 

“What are we-?!” 

“I want a vacation home-!” 

“You’re not just gonna-” 

Keith cleared his throat, and the room went silent. He stood up, putting his book down, then walked towards the door. “Guys. Let’s go.” 

“But-” Lance’s argument died when Keith gave him a pointed look. The four left silently, the door slamming shut behind them. 

“Why did we leave? We should’ve stood up to her! For us and for Allura!” 

“We need to pick our battles.” Keith said, quieting the voices behind him. “They’d never listen to us. The only person they might listen to is Allura. We shouldn’t waste our energy on fighting battles we can’t win.” 

They all looked at each other, and at Keith’s back. “So, then what do we do now?” 

Keith started walking again, heading to the control room. “I’m going to control, to make sure everything’s alright. You can come if you want.” 

As he walked, hearing his team behind him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

* * *

Lance scowled, leaning against the doorway as Keith, Hunk and Pidge stood in front of the console. Or rather, Pidge was standing on Hunk’s head. Same difference.

Honestly, Lance agreed with Keith. It’s been too quiet, and while Keith’s conclusion was born out of flawed logic and paranoia, Lance’s was born from his gut. And while logic usually failed them because the shit they go through is anti-logical, Lance’s gut is consistently right. So Lance is gonna go with his gut, thank you very much.

“We have a distress signal coming in,” Keith shouted, taking everyone’s attention. “It’s- It’s from Earth!” 

“FROM EARTH?!!!” 

Lance swore profanities, as Keith kept looking for more details. “They’re being attacked by the Drule nukes, and Galaxy Garrison defenses are compromised. We could make it there quickly if we leave now.” 

“You are not leaving!” Nanny’s shrill voice echoed through the room. Nanny, Coran, Allura and a bunch of guards burst into the room. “You must remain here for the protection of Arus!” 

“They’re gonna destroy Earth if we don’t stop them!” Hunk shouted. “We can’t just let Earth get destroyed!” 

“If you leave, Zarkon might come to Arus,” Coran said. “We’d be completely vulnerable if the Drule attacked Arus.” 

“You know,” Lance spoke up, moving over in front of Keith, who looked like he was about to cry. “I’m pretty sure Zarkon’s attention is focused on Earth, so he’s not going to attack Arus.” 

Coran knit his eyebrows, slamming his cane onto the ground. “I will not take the risk. You pilots are all under house arre-”

“No.” 

Everyone looked over at Allura, who stepped forward, facing the elders in the room. “This is their home planet. They sacrificed almost everything to help us. The least we can let them do is go and help Earth. I will stay here with the blue lion, in case the Drule decides to try to attack Arus. But the pilots are free to go.” 

The room erupted into arguing. Lance simply grabbed Keith’s arm and booked it. Keith got the memo, thankfully, and bolted for the black lion, while he and the others went for their respective lions. Before Coran could say juniper berries, they were in their lions and en route to Earth.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith’s hands shook as he landed the black lion onto the ground. Everything was nearly pound to dust, buildings crumbled and lava flowing from deep cracks in the earth. While they did pass a refugee ship, he could still see corpses on the ground. There were no survivors left on the planet. They were too late to stop it. 

When he opened it up, he recognized where they landed. New York, specifically near the Galaxy Garrison Academy. He could see the ruins of their dorm buildings, and the path to his mom’s apartment, and the squad’s favorite restaurant in the city. It was all rubble. 

The dust crumbled under his boots as he wandered, eventually stopping in front of the others in the ruins of the commons. 

Pidge was twitching, looking around and staying close to Hunk. “Do you think Hawkins made it out?” 

“I hope so, buddy,” he responded, his voice low as he pulled Pidge close to his side. 

Lance noticed that Keith was kind of out of it, so he gently nudged his friend. “Keith, do you want to go check your mom’s apartment?” 

Keith nodded, trying to get his breathing under control, then started walking in the direction of home. He could hear the others following him, but he tried to keep himself in check, even though his hands shook. 

Everyone held their breath when they got up to the destroyed apartment building. The metal ladder was bent and twisted on the ground and the windows were shattered. Keith just stood at the base for a while, until he felt Lance put his hand on his shoulder. 

“Do you want us to come with you?” Lance asked. 

Keith shook his head, and he felt Lance’s hand come off of his shoulder. “No. I need to do this alone.” 

He stepped through the doorway, rummaging through stuff dropped from when the levels above caved in. Almost all of it was unsalvageable, except for a scrapbook. He recognized it as his mother’s: it had bamboo covers with “Kogane Akira” written in japanese characters on the front. 

When he came back out, there was a new determination in his eyes. “Come on. We’re taking the lions and escorting the refugee ships back to Arus.” 

“Are you sure, Chief?” Hunk asked, Pidge perched on his shoulder and hugging his head. 

Keith nodded, already heading for the lions. “It’s the only thing we can do.” 

* * *

Allura paced the control room, the blue lion’s key clutched tightly in her hand, ready to jump into the lion as soon as possible. She had already kicked everyone else out of the control room, all monitors pulled up to check on Arus and the communications between the lions. 

Something in her gut told her that she had made a bad decision. Not in letting the pilots go, they clearly deserved it, but in not going with them. 

It was necessary for me to stay here, as a defense in case the Drule decide to attack while Voltron was on route to Earth. 

It didn’t settle her stomach. 

Her attention was caught by a transmission, sent back to control from the lions. Opening it, she was shocked to hear Keith’s voice. “Princess- need the- lion!” 

Her resolve strengthened, and she gripped the key, turning to the blue lion’s door and jumping through without hesitation. Her friends- no, her brothers- needed her, and no one was going to stop her.

* * *

In Hunk’s professionally sourced and unbiased opinion, today sucked. 

Coran tried to arrest them, Earth was destroyed, and Allura’s still on Arus, so they’re fighting a robeast in space protecting ships with natural defenses. And the robeast was kicking their ass. Lovely. 

Keith was shouting something over the comms, but Hunk was more focused on making sure he didn’t get speared through by the robeast. 

Their strategy so far is to generally distract the thing so that Lance could knock it into the nearby star. Unfortunately, the distracting thing was not working so well. The yellow and black lions were already pretty knocked up, and Lance hadn’t been able to dart in there and do- well, anything, really.

Hunk got a reality check when a foot slammed into the side of his lion, sending him spiralling, and he just barely managed to avoid the refugee ships they were supposed to be protecting. 

“Hunk, be careful!” Keith shouted over the comms. 

“Yeah, cause I was tryin to hit the ships!” Hunk snapped back, launching himself back into the fray. He grimaced, rushing forward, pushing Pidge out of the way of a swinging laser-

SCHING!!

The laser stopped, covered by a beam of ice instead. The blue lion zipped to the battlefield, stopping right next to Lance. 

“Princess!” Hunk exclaimed, a smile on his face. “Good to see you!” 

“Good to be here!” Allura responded. “Now, let’s throw this fucker into the sun, shall we?” 

“We shall,” Keith said over the comms. “Form Voltron!” 

* * *

A young girl, no older than twelve, weaved through the large crowd on a ship. It was a large space cruiser, previously used for fancy cruises through the solar system for those who paid enough for it. Now it was for refugees of Earth enroute to Arus. 

She was still wearing the same clothes that she had run off her junior high’s soccer field in; a jersey and gym shorts, cleated sneakers, and a duffel bag strung over her shoulder. She was covered in dirt and grass stains from running, running as fast as she could to escape the shooting overhead. Some gracious soul had draped a blanket over her shoulders, not for the cold, but for shock. 

There were officers weaving through the crowd too, probably working to reunite people with their families. One knelt in front of the girl, gently guiding her away from the large crowd and finding her somewhere to sit. 

“Sweetheart, what’s your name?” The officer asked, her voice gentle, like she was dealing with a scared animal. 

“Caitlyn Garrett, ma’am,” she mumbled, her eyes and voice low as she fidgeted with her blanket. 

“Caitlyn.” The officer smiled gently, slowly rubbing her back through the blanket. “That’s a pretty name. Who’s in your family, Caitlyn?” 

“My father, my mother, and my older brother.” She sniffed, wiping away a stray tear. 

“Can you tell me more about them?” 

Caitlyn nodded shakily, pulling the blanket around her. “My- my father’s Dr Bertram Garrett. He’s a software engineer, commuted into the city for work, we live- we lived in the suburbs of Chicago.” 

“Good. Good. And your mother and brother?” 

“My mother’s Gracia. She stays at home with us, makes delicious taquitos. My grandparents, on my mom’s side, immigrated from Mexico. My older brother, his name is Hugo but we call him Hunk, he’s three years older than me. He’s an engineer for the Garrison. He was originally Missing in Action, but they found him on Arus.” 

The officer smiled reassuringly, pulling out a piece of candy. “Well, it’s a good thing we’re going to Arus. You’ll be able to see him again.” 

Caitlyn nodded, nibbling on the Hersheys as the officer stood up. She pulled out a walkie talkie, speaking into it. “We’re looking for a Dr Bertram Garrett and a Gracia Garrett, the parents of Caitlyn Garrett. I repeat, we’re looking for a Dr Bertram Garrett and a Gracia Garrett, the parents of Caitlyn Garrett, over.” 

As the officer left her on the bench, she tucked her feet in and waited. It was going to be a long trip.


	3. Chapter 3

Andrea sighed, wandering through the crowded ship. The entire family had entered the ship together, but because of the crowds, they got separated. 

“Can I borrow the small ballroom?” She heard someone ask, and made her way over. Her wife, Lia, was talking to one of the officers. “And the comms system?” 

“Why would you need one?” The officer responded. 

Andrea walked up to her wife, gently grabbing her hand. “We have thirty eight people in our family sir, we need a separate place to gather.” 

The officer balked, then nodded. “You can use sub-ballroom D. What’s your last name?” 

“McClain,” Lia responded easily, giving her wife’s hand a reassuring squeeze. Andrea squeezed back. They had to stay calm in order to find everyone else. 

The officer nodded, pulling out his walkie talkie. “Tell anyone from the McClain family to meet in sub-ballroom D.” 

Andrea barely heard the intercom system crackle above her as they made their way to the ballroom. Opening it up, she sat on one of the plush couches, which would’ve been reserved for the wealthy clients on a space cruise ship, and waited. 

Her family trickled in slowly. There were many tearful hugs, greetings, chatter. Andrea and Lia made their way to the stage, trying to keep a brave face for everyone. 

“Thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven,” Lia muttered under her breath. “I don’t see Mia anywhere.”

Andrea pulled her wife into a hug. “Mia was going to visit Miyako, querida. I’m sure she’s just with her. You know she needs help with her bad leg.” 

Lia nodded. “You’re right,” she said. “You always are.” 

Andrea chuckled bitterly. “That’s why you married me.” They pulled apart, and Andrea gently grasped her wife’s hand. “Now come on. Let’s go check on the others.”

* * *

Meanwhile, on a separate corner of the ship, two brothers were nibbling on some of the snacks they found in the kitchen. They stuck to themselves, not trying to attract any attention. 

“Did mom and dad make it out?” The younger brother asked almost hesitantly. 

The older one only shook his head. “They were too focused on making sure that their secrets would be buried with them. They figured that as long as I made it off planet, the company would continue.” 

The younger one snorted, taking a bite out of an apple. “You know you don’t have to continue the company, Torfinn,” he said. “You could leave it in the hands of the other investors, strike your own path.” 

Torfinn shook his head. “No, it’s my company by inheritance. I can’t just leave it. But since it’s mine now, I can change it. Maybe it can do good in the world, rather than be a blood sucking corporation.” 

The brother patted Torfinn on the back. “We’re going to Arus, aren’t we? Maybe… Maybe we’ll see Sven again.” 

“I don’t know,” Torfinn sighed. His youngest brother was on the Explorer Team that crashed onto Arus, but while the rest of the team was confirmed as alive, Sven remained Missing in Action. “I just don’t know, Henrik.” 

The two brothers fell into silence again, watching the crowds milling around them. They had a lot to process. 

* * *

The Voltron Force had spent the rest of the flight escorting the ships to Arus. At one point, Keith did get confirmation that the SS Explorer did pick up a couple of Garrison ships with survivors, and were on their way to rendezvous with them. But that was the most exciting it got. 

When they landed, the team changed out of their armor and into their civilian clothing. They decided to wait in the main living room, while Allura went out and looked for their family. She figured they needed the space. 

Pidge’s parents were likely to be on the Garrison ships that made it onto the Explorer, and his brother was confirmed to be off planet and on the Explorer. So that left Sven’s family, Lance’s family, Keith’s mother, and Hunk’s family. 

She weaved through the crowd, secretly proud of how well the Arusian army and personnel were handling this. She knew it wasn’t easy, but it was worth it to help the refugees who needed it. 

“Looking for the Garrett family, the McClain family, the Kogane family, and the Holgersson family,” Allura said, weaving through the crowd. The army worked fast, as if the Acting Queen of Arus had given them direct orders rather than requests. 

“Your Majesty,” one of the soldiers addressed her, and she turned around. He had a young girl with him, no older than twelve, in a soccer jersey and covered in grass stains and dirt. She had a blanket over her shoulders, and her eyes were wide as she held a chocolate bar in her hand. “Caitlyn Garrett. We haven’t found her parents, but when we find them, we’ll send them to the Castle of Lions.”

“Thank you,” Allura nodded to him, who saluted and disappeared into the crowd again. She bent down, offering a hand to the girl. “Hello Caitlyn. My name is Allura, and I’m going to take you to your brother.” 

Her eyes glistened as she took in those words. “You know where Hunk is?” 

Allura smiled as the girl took her hand. “Of course. Come along, I’ll make sure no one bothers you.” 

They drifted through the crowd, as most of the soldiers parted for her when she passed. When the guards saw her approaching the bridge, they saluted, uttering the phrase “Your Majesty” in unison.

“Are you a princess?” Caitlyn asked quietly. 

“I am,” Allura confirmed for the girl, not paying attention to the guards or maids who were watching them. 

They walked through the wide halls, the many footsteps of the personnel echoing through the castle. They made their way to a large room, with one wall covered in bookshelves while the other wall had windows with reading nooks. There were more couches in there than usual, the boys probably moved more in, and there were tea sets with steaming tea on the coffee table for their families. 

Keith was pacing, as usual, while Lance paced with him, less usual. Pidge was fidgeting with something, and Hunk was eating, as usual. 

Allura pushed the door farther open, the old hinges squeaking open. Everyone looked up at them, but the one who moved first was-

“Hunk!” Caitlyn ran forward. Hunk moved to meet her, pulling his sister into a hug. 

“Are you okay?” Hunk asked. “Are you hurt anywhere? Where are mom and dad?” 

Caitlyn’s eyes were wide and filled with tears as she simply squeezed them shut and buried deeper into her brother’s hug. Allura decided to answer for her. “Other than a few bumps and bruises, she’s okay. We haven’t found your parents, but we’re still looking. There is a lot of people.” 

Hunk nodded, picking his younger sister up and moving to sit on the couch. “Katie,” he said gently, “Do you want some tea? There’s some pastries here: they’re cream puffs.” 

Pidge slid bonelessly off the couch and walked over to the young girl, sidling up next to her and simply pulling her into a hug. Keith had stopped pacing them to watch the two of them with a sad smile, and Lance had stopped next to him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

Allura sighed, then turned around and left. She had a job to do. 


End file.
